Garment-supporter.



CIIARLES M. BIGGER AND GUSTAV P. LEONARD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS OF ONE-THIRD TO CHARLES H. CURTIS, OF SAME PLACE.

GARMENT-SUPPORTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 643,317, dated February 13, 1900. Application filed December 12, 1899. Serial No. 740,038- (NO model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, CHARLES M. BIGGER and GUSTAV P. LEONARD, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Carment-Supporters, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in clasps for use more especially as garmentsupportersas, for example, to fasten underdrawers to the waistbands of trousers.

Our object is to provide a clasp of a simple, durable, and improved construction which will render it easy to apply and remove and cause it to be at the same time a particularly efficient securing or sustaining device for the purposes for which it is adapted.

In the drawings, Figures 1 and 2 are perspective views of the device, taken from opposite. sides; and Fig. 3, a broken sectional view illustrating one application of our improved clasp.

A is the body portion or hook member of the clasp, and B a gripping-lever member. The body portion as we prefer to provide it may be stamped out of sheet metal and bent into shape to produce a frame having the hook-tongue portion a and back portion 1). The frame consists, in eifect, of two parallel side bars, with end bars 01 and e and intermediate cross-bar f, presenting the elongated slot or opening 9 and clamping-jaw slot or opening it in the'positions and of the relative sizes shown. Integral with the back I) are bearing-earst' for a pin 70. The lever B may also be stamped out of sheet metal and shaped, as shown, to produce the long arm Z and the short arm, bent to produce the clamping-jaw m. At the fulcrum of the lever the metal thereof is curled over to produce the bearingslecves n, which fit between the earsz' and receive the pin to turn thereon. Surrounding the pin and bearing at its opposite ends, respectively, against the lever and cross-bar f is a coiled spring 19, thearms of which pass through an opening q, provided in the lover. The tendency of the spring is to hold the clasp open, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, wherein the long arm of the lever extends through the opening g and across the plane of the hook at. Turning of the lever in the direction of parallelism with the back b causes the long arm to move freely in the slot g and the jaw m to enter the opening h into clamping engagement with the jaw of the other member.

In applying our improved device the garment X to be supported may be engaged and pressed by the head on into the slot h to obtain a firm grip and the hook at passed over the edge of the garment Y to hold the lever in its closed condition.

To disengage the garments the device is slipped off of the garment Y and the spring 19 opens the clasp and releases the garment X. Thus the clasp may be quickly and easily applied and removed and while in position forms a secure and desirable festening and sustaining device: I

The clasp may be of any desired size and may be employed as a necktie-fastener or for any other purpose for which it is adapted. While the springp is desirable, it is not to be regarded as indispensable, and although we prefer to construct our improved clasp throughout as shown and described it may be variously modified in the matter of details of construction without departing from the spirit of our invention as defined by the claims.

A valuable feature of our invention is that the clasp is devoid of teeth, so that all danger of tearing the fabric is avoided.

What we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a garment-supporting clasp, the com biuation of a hook member A having a clamping-jaw, tongue at and slot 9, and lover n1e1nber B, fulcrumed thereon, and having a jaw to cooperate with the jaw of the member A and an arm Z extending, when the jaws are opened in the slot g, across the plane of the hook, to operate as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination of the hook member A having the tongue a, slot g and jaw-opening h, and lever member B, having the arm 1, movable in the slot 9, and clamping-jaw m, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination of the hook member A, open, substantially as and for the purpose set having the clam ping-jaw s7lot h, Ongl1?1a1,) slot forth. g and bearing-ears '5, pin a in t e sai earing-ears, lever member B, pivotally mounted upon the pin 7;, having the arm Z movable in the slot g across the plane of the hook, and In presence of clamping-jaw m, and springp on the pin op- D. W. LEE, erating' normally to hold the clamping-jaws F. J. MARTIN. 

